Please don't ditch your mother or father in this nursing home and then never call, write, or visit. I give them their medications, change their soiled incontinence products and clean their bodies, cook their meals, feed them, clean their "home," and come in on my days off to spend time with them because they are unbearably lonely... but my presence is no substitute for yours.

He's kind, generous, listens to me when I talk, remembers what I say, treats me how a woman should be treated, cares for me whe I'm sick, is my best friend, and loves me. What should it matter that my boyfriend is black?

I don't envy you one bit. No matter what you do, people hate you and make your life hell. Everything you do is worse than Hitler according to someone, and someone will always shout that you're the single worst thing to ever happen to this country- including civil war, the Great Depression, incredible financial debt, and the countless shameful displays of utter disrespect for humanity (read: killing Native Americans for being there first, African slavery, Japanese-American detention camps, Muslim degredation, anti-marriage for gays). I just wanted to tell you not to give up. Nobody can change this country in eight years, let alone four, but you're nudging us in the right direction, and for that, you deserve applause.